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Royal Navy warship seeks shelter                   20/3/14

The Royal Navy’s most modern destroyer has sought shelter off Lewis in a gale.

After strong winds affected the area, the 152-metre long HMS Dauntless steamed into Broadbay off Point, on Wednesday night.

 

The 8,000 tonne Type 45 destroyer is lying at anchor. She had been running up the Minch after departing Glasgow on Monday.

 

HMS Dauntless and her five sister vessels are the most advanced warships in the navy’s fleet.

 

She has a top speed of 30 knots and can steam for 7,000 miles without refuelling.

 

Dauntless, the second of the Type 45 destroyers, joined the fleet in November 2010. She carries the new Sea Viper missiles costing around £1 million each.

 

Destroyers are part of the backbone of the Royal Navy, committed around the world 365 days a year hunting pirates, drug runners or submarines, defending the fleet from air attack, and providing humanitarian aid after natural disasters

 

Britain’s six Type 45 destroyers are the most advanced warships the nation has ever built.

 

Their mission is to shield the fleet from air attack using the Sea Viper missile which can knock targets out of the sky up to 70 miles away if necessary.

 

The Type 45s can also be used as general-purpose warships; they have large flight decks to accommodate helicopters up to the size of a Chinook.

 

Type 45 destroyer

Royal Navy/  © Crown copyright